Keep Moving
by mizzybizzy
Summary: "No… no.  We were all we had left!" he screamed at the sky.  "We were all we had left!"  Scar attacked... and Roy Mustang couldn't make it in time. This is the aftermath of the tragedy.


**I am a sick, horrible person who deserves a lynch mob after what I'm about to do.**

**What if stories… it's the type of thing that will haunt a fan fic writer till the end of their days… or until they write it.**

**DISCLAIMER! It belongs to the bespectacled cow.**

**I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry…. But you might. WARNING!**

"Brother!"

Alchemic lightning crackled. Blood sprayed. And with that, Scar dropped the corpse he had been holding by the face, and turned to the broken suit of armor.

"I made a promise," Scar said, emotionless. "And I will keep that promise." He turned to look at the corpse he had just created. His fists clenched. "A brother for a brother." And with that, with speed and agility almost inhuman, he was gone.

"No." Alphonse Elric clenched his armored fists. He began to shake. Pieces of his shattered armor rained about him… the only form of tears an empty suit of armor could possibly display. "Brother… why?" He pounded his fist into the ground. "Dammit! You idiot!" His arm fell off then, the contact with the ground being too much for the broken metal. "Great… great… and now… now my arm's fallen off …" He steeled himself, and yelled at the corpse in the road. "Because my brother's a big fat idiot!" His voice… it hinted at wanting to cry. But again, such things were impossible without a real human body of flesh and blood and bone. And Al wanted to cry. He wanted to sob. He wanted to let it out, let the tears poor down his cheeks, but the armor forced him to do the unhealthy…. To bottle it up inside.

_No… he… he can't be…. No…._

Al was filled to the gills with denial. It just couldn't be…

"No… no. We were all we had left!" he screamed at the sky. "We were all we had left!"

Cars pulled up near the corpse. Soldiers poured out of them and froze at the sight.

Colonel Roy Mustang, followed by Lieutenants Riza Hawkeye and Jean Havoc and Major Alex Louis Armstrong, burst through the soldiers and also froze at the sight.

Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, the Hero of the People, was Scar's latest success in his mission to kill off state alchemists.

15-year-old Edward Elric was dead.

Roy 's face fell. His body sagged. His legs shook with the effort of holding himself up against the sudden onslaught of grief and guilt that poured down on him with the rain. He couldn't let himself collapse. He was the ranking officer. He had orders to carry out…

But his voice wouldn't work for him. Nothing would. It took all his brainpower just to _stand._

"No… not Ed. No…" whispered Havoc.

Roy wasn't sure if the water pouring down his cheeks was just rain anymore.

Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes walked up then.

"No…" he whispered. He turned to look at his best friend. Roy gritted his teeth, unable to take his eyes off Edward. Maes put a hand on his shoulder and held tightly, offering both his emotional and physical support.

Roy found his voice. "C-cover the body," he said slowly without much command to his voice. "Inform Central Command that the Fullmetal… that…"

Maes took over. "That Scar has murdered the Fullmetal Alchemist."

No one had wanted to hear it out loud. No one had wanted to say it. And now Maes had wished he never completed the command. He kept his grip on Roy's shoulder tight. Roy's face contorted with pain, and he shook slightly, holding in the emotions. Armstrong, a man whose heart was as big as his muscles, let out a sob. Riza turned away, a hand to her mouth. Jean let the cigarette fall out of his mouth to extinguish in the puddle at his feet. Maes squeezed his eyes shut against the possibility of tears.

Reverently, the soldiers positioned the boy's body so he was lying on his back, and covered him with from toe to head in a blanket.

The officers stood there for a moment in silence. Pictures were taken of the scene; evidence was gathered… like it was needed. They all knew who the culprit was. They all knew the cause of death.

"Where's Alphonse?" asked Riza suddenly.

_No,_ thought Roy. _Not him, too._

The officers moved. He couldn't be far, could he? They called to him.

"Alphonse?"

"Alphonse?"

It was Maes who found him. He stood there stunned, seeing the broken and _empty _Alphonse.

"Al?" he whispered.

"Y-yeah," said Al weakly. "It's me." He raised his head.

Roy and Riza came up behind Maes.

"Lieutenant," said Roy. "Clear the area. I don't want anyone getting too close."

Riza nodded. "Right." She shouted out orders, positioning soldiers around the perimeter.

"Ed bonded Al's soul to that armor," Roy whispered. He knelt next to Al and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll explain the rest later."

Maes nodded.

The rest of the armor was cleaned up, and Al was carted off quickly.

_Resembool: 1 week later_

The funeral was one of the hardest thing's Roy had ever had to endure.

Never mind he was one of his subordinates.

Never mind he was a friend.

Never mind he was only a fifteen-year-old boy.

Never mind he was leaving behind his only family with nothing.

It was all Roy's fault.

How could he not blame himself? He was the one who tore the boy from his home, persuaded him to become a state alchemist. He was killed because he was a state alchemist. So how was it not his fault?

He held himself as steady as possible and glanced over at the Rockbells. Winry was losing it, and Pinako just stood there, a hand on her granddaughter's arm and staring at the grass. Alphonse hadn't been able to come to the funeral. He sat in a crate inside the Rockbell house. They were unable to repair him in fear of messing up the boy's blood seal, and they didn't want to reveal the nature of his armored body to the higher ups who would be in attendance by necessity. Roy felt guilty about that, too. The boy couldn't even go to his brother's funeral… because neither he nor Armstrong knew anything about soul bonding.

The casket was lowered. The Amestrian flag was folded. The sky began to cry for those who could not… or would not.

Edward Elric was buried next to his mother. The military had wanted him buried in the military cemetery in Central, but Roy had protested.

"Resembool," he had said. "That's where he'd want to be."

The crowd began to dissipate, heading into the Rockbell home for the wake. But Roy stayed.

When all were gone, he walked up to the new tombstone and collapsed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I took everything from you, even your life. "

He let out a sob. "I'm so sorry."

Roy walked into the guest room where Al was stored. He looked down at the objects in his hands: a folded Amestrian flag and Edward's pocket watch. He looked back up at Al, whose head turned to look out the window.

"Alphonse?"

Al turned to Roy. "Colonel? What is it?" Then he saw what was in Roy's hands. "Oh."

"You're his only remaining family," Roy whispered. "This goes to you."

He set the items on the bed, then sat on the bed himself.

"Alphonse… there's…" He closed his eyes, gathering his thoughts. "I want…" He gritted his teeth. "I don't know how to say this."

Al just looked at him silently. Roy could _swear_ he could see the boy's emotions plastered on that faceplate.

"I'm sorry," he choked. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. None of this would've happened if I hadn't dragged you boys to Central." He put his face in his hand. "I'm so sorry. I took from you the only family you had left."

He couldn't look at him anymore. He just stayed on the bed, waiting for the boy to lash out at him. He deserved it. He deserved every form of abuse he could possibly receive.

He should've known better.

"No," said Al. "Please, Colonel. Don't blame yourself. "

Roy looked up at Al.

"Thank you," the boy said.

Roy was floored for a second. "What?"

"You gave us hope again. We had nothing after trying to bring our mom back. If it wasn't for you, I don't think Brother would have been able to allow himself out of the wheelchair." He turned away from Roy. "Maybe… someday… he would've considered trying to get our bodies back. But you… you really inspired him." Roy could swear he could detect sobs in the boy's voice. "What you said… he has never forgotten. Ever. 'Keep moving. Whatever it takes.' It drove him… till the end…"

Roy could only stare, tears welling in his eyes.

"You gave us something to live for Colonel. So thank you."

Roy didn't know what to say. He was not expecting this. He should have. The boy was too kind-hearted to not see the good side of this, but he still expected anger… or something… not this.

They sat in silence for a moment as Roy absorbed this.

"_That boy. I've never seen anyone look that defeated."_

_Roy smiled. "Is that what you saw? No, there was fire in those eyes."_

Indeed there had been. And the fire had stayed the moment it had returned.

_He's right,_ Roy thought._ It wasn't there until I told him to become a State Alchemist. Ed died… died believing that there was a chance to get their bodies back._ Roy smiled.

"Brother died saving me," Al continued. "I know that he couldn't care less about his own limbs… he only cared about getting my body back. But I never wanted this. I never wanted to be left behind."

"What are you going to do?" Roy asked.

"I know you've given us everything. The opportunities, leads, advice when we needed it…. But I still need your help, once last time."

Roy's eyes widened. _Please tell me this isn't what I think it is… please._

"Will you…. Help me get my body back?" Al looked away. "It was Brother's dying wish. I know it was. It would dishonor him to just stop, and I can't do it without you. With this body, I can't become a state alchemist, but I need the resources I can get from the government. "He looked back at Roy. " You're a state alchemist. And you know my secret. You're the only one who can help me."

Roy just stared. The boy surprised him yet again. But he thought of it, thought of the guilt he saw on Ed's face every time he looked at Al when he thought Al wasn't looking. Of course Roy knew it was the only thing driving him. He had been around the boy long enough to figure it out. And yes… it would be Ed's dying wish for Al to return to his real body.

Roy started them on this journey. If Al wasn't going to give up, neither would he.

He wanted to see the boys' bodies returned to them, too. Many people did.

Roy stood. "Yes, Alphonse. I will help you." He smirked. "But first I'm going to have to help you get yourself back together. You're going to have to work for it, too, you know."

Al chuckled. "Of course!"

"I will continue to give you leads and I'll get you any books and research materials you need. Hell, I might be able to pull a few strings and get you to be some sort of honorary state alchemist... saying you're continuing your brother's research. Which you are, of course." His expression turned grave. "You'll have to return to East City with me. Are you okay with that?"

Al looked out the window again. "Yeah. We burned down our house so that there was no going back. So I have to be."

Roy nodded. "I'll give you a couple of days to… say your goodbyes." He put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you for reminding me of my own words."

Al looked up at him, and Roy could've sworn he smiled.

Some of the guilt lifted off Roy, then. If this boy could keep moving, whatever it took, he could, too.

_I'll get your brother's body back, Fullmetal. I promise you._

**And that is a WRAP! WOOO! No seriously. That's the end of it. Here you guys go. I know someone's going to need it. *pulls out tissue box***

**Now I know that some of you want to see the rest of this. I think I set up a pretty decent plot here. I'd hate to see it go to waste. So I am willing to pass it on. If anyone would like, take this piece and run with it! And PM me! I wanna see where you will take it. I've done my job.**

**Oh… and please don't kill me for killing Ed….. IT WAS SCAR! IT WASN'T ME!**


End file.
